People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil

by M. Scott Peck

Genres: Nonfiction

Mass Market Paperback

Published March 15, 1985

About the author

Morgan Scott Peck was an American psychiatrist and best-selling author who wrote the book The Road Less Traveled, published in 1978.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. Two things that stand out are that: (1) people of the lie (i.e. evil people) rely on scapegoating, and (2) avoid letting laziness or ego get in the way of doing what's right. Those were standouts.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really disliked this book, it was hard to make myself finish it. The only reason I'm not saying I hated it is that the example stories provided are just interesting cases (except the stupid exorcism, insert eye roll). I could literally write a 5 page essay on all the issues I have with this thing and the author's bias and incorrect assumptions, but I don't have the time and you do not have the interest. I'll just say I found this book FULL of inconsistencies and hypocrisy during when the author was laying out his "truths"....unsubstantiated theories. The psychology of mass genocide is actually one of my favorite fields of study and there are far better analysis than this book. As to the individual cases, it is clear there is a bias by the author to a certain "type" of person that he deems evil, while hypocritically giving other people a pass, even people I actually think you could make an argument are evil, not just their acts. He makes these sweeping evil assumptions and "diagnosis" with little evidence or even a decent argument for his decision. He states all opinions as facts. He deems people evil after one conversation with them, deems people either able to be saved or a lost cause with very little time or analysis spent with or on studying the person. The whole thing is just sweeping assumptions by the author. That's enough of a reason to avoid this like the plague, but there's also the clear bias of this person I don't like, they're evil, but these poor people in prison, they have a psychological issues so they're not evil. I want to go into each example given and shred it but we'll be here all day and it doesn't even deserve the analysis. There are far better books on the study of human behavior, group behavior and what is and what is not evil in human beings. This is just a shallow view of human beings based on one guys biased judgy opinions with basically zero good arguments to support it and that's annoying because this is a discussion worth having, just not in this book. Oh, and there's a whole part on his supposed involvement in exorcisms, again, just his opinions, claims and it's ridiculous. In my opinion, I'd avoid this one, find a more reliable person to look into human behavior and evil, like a Jordan Peterson, where you'll actually get some educated clinic review.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is excellent at showing that evil is a tangible part of this world and we must be aware of it. The author claims to be a Christian, however, there is a massive misreading of the book of Job and other Christian principles concerning the character of God in the chapter concerning exorcism. Christians can benefit from reading this, but use discernment when reading the sections listed above.

[Adam Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

an incredibly quick read I would've loved to have 20 years ago. The family in the second story almost verbatim mirrored mine growing up. Lots to learn from these books.

[Linda Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book about evil and the hope for healing human evil.

[ملكة المماليك🇵🇸 · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF..
It was really not that good. Quite boring, repetitive and too much of an interference of religion with science
In general, I just felt that it was white man crap with an air of egotism